The Ascendency of France under Louis XIV 279 the government of the state thought that in a matter so deli- cate it would be more dangerous to try a new policy than to submit to the existing evils. It is not astonishing that superintendents of finance regu- lated their conduct by these maxims, since they found in them two considerable advantages : the first was that in this confusion they enjoyed plenty of opportunity to enrich them- selves and to make important gifts to their relatives and friends and to all the persons of the court whose good offices they had need of in order to maintain themselves in all the disorder; and the second, that they were persuaded that this policy rendered their services necessary and that no resolution to remove them could be considered. A letter addressed by Louis XIV to the town officers and people of Marseilles in 1664, shortly after Colbert had become the financial head of the realm, clearly shows the active means which the new minister proposed to take to promote the material welfare of France. Very dear and well beloved : Considering how advantageous it would be to this realm to reestablish its foreign and domestic commerce, ... we have resolved to establish a council particularly devoted to com- merce, to be held every fortnight in our presence, in which all the interests of merchants and the means conducive to the revival of commerce shall be considered and determined upon, as well as all that which concerns manufactures. We also inform you that we are setting apart, in the ex- penses of our state, a million livres each year for the encour- agement of manufactures and the increase of navigation, to say nothing of the considerable sums which we cause to be raised to supply the companies of the East and West Indies ; That we are working constantly to abolish all the tolls which are collected on the navigable rivers ; That there has already been expended more than a million livres for the repair of the public highways, to which we shall also devote our constant attention; 337. Com- mercial policy of Colbert as shown in a letter of the king's (August 26, 1664).
